Follow #SheQuotes on Twitter

Jacqueline Novogratz founded and leads Acumen, a non-profit organisation that takes a businesslike approach to improving the lives of the poor.

In her book, The Blue Sweater, she tells stories from the new philanthropy, which emphasizes sustainable bottom-up solutions over traditional top-down aid. Besides being an anti-poverty activist, Novogratz is a gifted speaker and storyteller.

“We often don’t realize what our action & our inaction do to people we think we will never see & never know.”

“The only way to end poverty, to make it history, is to build viable systems on the ground that deliver critical and affordable goods and services to the poor, in ways that are financially sustainable and scaleable. If we do that, we really can make poverty history.”

“Four billion people on Earth make less than four dollars a day.”

“The poor also are willing to make, and do make, smart decisions, if you give them that opportunity.”

“People really don’t want handouts, that they want to make their own decisions.”

“It’s about all of us, and the kind of world that we, together, want to live in and share.”